Disclaimer: not mine

A/N: Awesome…over 200 hits, thanks guys! Anyways here's chapter 4 for you. R/R!

Chapter 4: Hearts Broken and Hearts a New

Tai ran through the woods, wind and rain whipping at his face and outer extremities. He had found a path through the rotting trees, hoping the Sora had taken this same one. He just hoped that she wasn't being attacked by anything that would permit her from yelling. As he skid down the hill, a flash of red caught his eye. Down by the banks of the river, she sat with her knees tucked under chin, soaked through, and tears mixing with the rain on her face. Tai sighed at the sight as he carefully made his way down to her. He knew that she felt his presence, for she quickly wiped her face before picking up her head.

"It's just like the first summer we were here all over again Tai." She said as he sat next to her in the mud.

Tai looked at her with confusion on his face. She looked right in his eyes, face full of sadness, and uncertainty.

"I don't know whether or not I know how to love. I mean I love my parents, I love my friends, I…I care for Matt, but it's like Biyomon said, I'm not sure if I love him. I don't know how to love someone in the way Matt wants. I think I'm just hurting him." She said as fresh tears escaped her eyes.

Tai looked at her sadly. "I have to admit Sora, I'm not sure I can help you. I can only tell you what I told you four years ago. Matt is lucky to have you, just follow what your heart is saying. Only there you'll find the answers you need."

Sora looked away from her best friend and searched her reflection in the water. She closed her eyes as if searching deep within her soul to answer the question she so desperately needed. After a few minutes she sighed and slowly opened her eyes. She looked back at Tai, with certainty.

"Tai, I…" she started but was interrupted when Tai was splashed with a small wave of water.

As he spit out the clean river water, he stood to face his attacker. He wasn't going to take this anymore, enough of the tackling, enough of the abuse. His fists were balled, mouth in a snarl, and eyes glaring. He looked at the water…nothing was there.

"Geez, Tai. You need to learn to relax." A small chuckling voice came from his side.

Tai looked down to find a laughing seal-like digimon.

"Your reaction was priceless though." Laughed Gomamon as he rolled on his back.

"Damn creatures." Tai said as he received a slap from Sora. "What? Ever since I got here they've done nothing but abuse me."

"Umm…Sora…" a voice called from the path.

Matt was standing there watching the scene. "Could I have a moment?"

Sora looked to Tai, who put his hand on his heart to remind her of what he said.

"Come on, Gom, I'll take you to back to see Joe." He said as he passed Matt on the bank.

When Tai had reached to path he glanced back. Matt was helping Sora stand, and he gently took her hand in his. He turned away; it was none of his business to watch the young couple. Tai admitted to himself that he was envious of their relationship, jealous of the fact Matt got Sora in the end, but he would never destroy what they had. He would always be the best friend, the third wheel, and in his mind he was ok with that. But his heart disagreed painfully.

Tai was alone. It was hard for the leader of the destined to be as close to these people when he knew the next command he gave his friends could ultimately kill them. He knew if he ever told anyone about the loneliness that swelled inside of him, they would never believe him. It was too hard to believe anyone could be so alone in the role of a hero.

Tai lived in the shadows. Forced into the darkness where things exists, but aren't meant to be seen. It hurt him to watch her form his obscure hiding place. It broke his heart to watch her look longingly at another.

He remembered the days just after the two had announced their courtship. By day he was a boy who, by all outward appearances, looked normal and happy. Yet as night cascaded over the earth, he would collapse onto his bed with tears rolling down his face. If his pillows had the power to speak they would tell of the sleepless nights of a heartbroken boy cradling it within his arms, sobbing for a love lost. It would tell of eyes which once held the look of courage and daring, now wept as his world had come crashing to an end.

This wasn't him. He was disgusted at how he had lived a false life all these years. Wearing a mask of happiness when time called for him to be forcibly cheerful. What pained him the most was the fact that Matt was clueless to what she wanted, what her heart called yearned for. He was unaware as her heart suffered silently for him. Matt was always surrounded by beautiful fans that had fallen in love with him, and he too had fallen for them. But they always lacked something, and for that reason it never lasted. But Tai saw it, he witnessed it just yesterday. It was the way her heart broke, it silently broke every time he brushed her off, every time he looked at one of fans.

There they stood. Three friends that would forever be locked into a tango of sorrow. Starting with Matt and eventually ending with Tai.

Tai shook his head. No. He would not let himself fall into that pit of despair again. He had to be strong, he still needed to lead this group through this world, and get them home alive. He would not let love life get in the way of their safety. He had too much depending on him. As Tai entered the village he was readying his nerves to be coated with steel armor. But one touch was able to melt that steel, one touch that made his heart soar, one touch from her.

Her soft hand was gently holding his arm back to keep him from going any further. He turned and found her gasping for air. She had obviously run to catch up to him. The whites of her eyes were still a soft hue of pink from her tears, but it only made her ruby eyes that much more beautiful. Her pale skin was hot from the run and her soaking wet hair framed it perfectly. She couldn't look more angelic in Tai's eyes.

"We broke up." She said softly.

Tai looked shocked at her statement. She smiled at him.

"You told me to follow my heart that December and I thought I chose the right path, but it only led me to a dead end." She explained. "So I retraced my steps, and I find myself again at another fork in the road. One way leads me into the unknown, a path of temporary loneliness. But the other…it leads to you Tai."

She brushed his hair from face, and gently stroked her cheek. Tai closed his eyes at the pleasure of feeling her skin upon his, but sighed. He gently took her hand away from his face, and held it within his own.

"Sora," he began as he looked at their hands. "I love you, but right now I think we need to wait."

"What do you mean?" she asked as she frowned at him.

"I don't want you to rush into a relationship so soon after breaking up with Matt. The last thing we need right now is to make rash decisions. You know I'll wait for you. I've made it this far, haven't I?" he said with a small smile.

Sora nodded and smiled back at him. "Thank you, Tai." She said as she gave him a hug.

Tai didn't want to let go of her. She smelled of vanilla and strawberries, it was intoxicating to him. But he knew he had to let her go, otherwise he would be the world's biggest hypocrite. So with great trepidation, he pushed her back to arms length. She gave him a soft smile, and move walk back to the house. Tai watched her walk with a new air in her stride.

"Tai? Tai... do I need to splash you again?" Gomamon asked him as he waited.

"You do, and I personally turn you into a fur coat." Tai said as he kept his eyes on the redhead. "All right, come on you furry fish, let's go find Joe."

Dinner was needless to say awkward. All the rest of the group knew is that the three each came in on their own at different times. The meal was silent, save for someone asking to pass the salt. One by one the destined left the table with great relief that the meal was over and left for their rooms. Tai was the last at the table. He slowly stroked the sleeping Popomon, who had befriended him just that afternoon. He had decided that the village no longer needed their help, and that it was time for the group to head out in the morning.

Tai gently stood up so not to wake the small creature and headed to the bedrooms. One by one he gently knocked on each door and told his friends that they should be packed and ready to leave in the morning. Tai had great pleasure in scaring the crap out of T.K. as he banged on Kari's door. And it didn't help that Kari couldn't yell back at him, he just merely put a finger to his mouth and pointed at the sleeping digimon. He left her room with a laugh. Next was Matt. Tai gave a soft knock and slowly opened the door.

"Hey." He said cautiously.

Matt was sitting on his bed, writing in his notebook. He looked up and put his book aside. He nodded to Tai, allowing him to enter the room.

"Umm… just wanted to tell you we're going to head out in the morning. There's nothing more we can do here. That's all." Tai said as he made his way back to the door.

"She chose you, you know." Matt said suddenly, making Tai stop. "You know I always had a feeling she still loved you. I just hoped she would let you go."

"We aren't seeing each other, Matt." Tai told him. "I told her it didn't feel right."

Matt got up and held out his hand to Tai. Tai looked at it for a second, the shifted the slumbering baby over to his other side so he could shake Matt's hand.

"You're a good friend, Tai." Matt said as he grabbed Tai's hand.

"Yeah." He said quietly and left the room.

"God, this hard." He said to the small creature as he stirred and knocked on Sora's door.

She opened it and smiled at him. She moved back to let him in.

"Oh, you didn't have to hold him the entire time he slept Tai. You could have put him with the others." She said as she went to take it.

"What can I say, I think I've grown to like him." He said as he handed him over to her. "Plus Kari couldn't yell at me for tormenting T.K. a few minutes ago. The little guy could come in handy."

Sora giggled as she put the small creature on her bed. "So what's up?" she asked.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning." He repeated.

"Ok. I guess I have pick up then." She laughed as she pointed to her clothes on the floor. "Where are we going?"

"I guess we'll just follow that path we were on today and see if Izzy can tell us where it leads. And we'll just keep going 'til Gennai sends another email." He said.

"Sounds like a plan. Umm… are you ok?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. Look, I know it's going to be hard for us these next few days, but let's just try to be casual in front of the others. We don't need them to get ideas in their heads that aren't true." He said confidently.

"Right. Ok, then. Well, I… guess I should pack. Goodnight Tai." She said as she opened the door for him.

"Night Sor." He said as she softly shut her door.

Tai would have liked nothing more than to slam his head against the wall a couple times. Who was he kidding? Act casual? Especially now that she was single. This was going to be hell.

'No!' he yelled at himself as he made his way to his room. 'You've done this for four years, Kamiya. Just pretend as if nothing happened and you'll make it. Put your mask back on, and it'll be ok. That's it Taichi, she's just your best friend. Your wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, currently single best friend. Oh shit.' He thought as he buried his head into his pillow.

"Tai are you ok?" his digimon asked.

"I'm fine, Ag." He muffled through his pillow. "Just tired. Goodnight."

The next few days were filled with bright blue skies with puffy white clouds, warm sunshine, and the smell of flowers and grass. The path by the river had taken the digidestined away from the desolate waste lands and into lands they were used to traveling in. Tall pine trees, lush greens, exotic flowers and the sounds of wildlife all around. Granted the destroyed forest gave fewer hiding places for evil digimon to hide, and they team was able to see around the bends of the paths. Sure, they were happy to be around life, but it offered no comfort. Around the bends came the unexpected. Within the thick wood, the enemy lied.

The group came into a small clearing. It was hear that Tai let the others take a break. Sora sat on a rock near Kari. Kari looked over at her. She was making some sort of net out of a strong leaf and some broken branches.

Up the path a ways, Tai had walked up to a trees that had, what looked like apples, growing from it. He jumped, trying to reach one of its shorter branches, but missed by inches. He glared at the branch, and then looked back at the group.

"Hey Matt! Come give me boost." Tai said as he pointed at the branch.

"Why don't you just have Agumon attack it." He called back.

"Because I don't want Agumon to waste his energy if he doesn't have to. Just come help me." Tai explained.

"I don't want to. Just kick the tree, Tai."

"What's with you? Just help me up so I can grab some of these."

The rest of the group rolled their eyes, all of them thinking the same thing. 'Here we go again.' Matt finally got up, but not to help Tai but to continue bickering at a closer range. The two stood under the tree quarrelling as Sora got up, finishing her net and walked over to Joe. She pointed at a small rock next to him, and asked him to pass it over. The two boys continued to argue, but stopped when the apples rained down on their heads. They looked back over to the rest of the group to see what happened.

"Nice shot, Sora." T.K. said clapping.

"Mmm…I was actually aiming for the trunk between them, but that works too, I guess." She said as she fixed the 'strings' on her makeshift racket and made her way over to the boys.

She picked up an apple and stared back at the shocked boys.

"Grow up." She said as she bit into her apple.

"I guess working at the flower shop has its advantages, eh Sora?" Kari asked her as she sat next to her again.

Sora smiled and nodded as she ate. "Yeah, I guess so. I was actually thinking of making fishing net out of some of these big leaves. I think they're strong enough to hold at least two fish at a time." She said as she examined a few.

"Why make a net? I could get you some fish." Gomamon said to her from Joe's side.

"I know you can, Gom. But Tai was right in what he said before. We don't want you guys to have to use your attacks if you don't have to. You may never when we might need you." Sora said as she looked into the woods behind her.

"All right guys," Tai said from his crouched position next to Izzy. "According to this map there's a nice little clearing about five miles from here. We'll set up camp there for the evening, so let's head out." Tai said as he got up and brushed himself off.

Sora grabbed a couple of the big leaves and put them in her backpack along with her new 'racket.' Tai made his way over to her to help her with her pack.

"You weren't really trying to hit us, were you?" he asked her as they started to walk.

Sora just smiled at him and quickened her pace to walk with Mimi.

"Were you?" he yelled.

That night dinner was more relaxed and filled with stories from days of old and new.

"So it was her serve, and it was getting down to the last point. If I screwed up, her team would win. So she throws the ball up, but every time she hit the ball she let out this high pitched shriek and it was getting so annoying. So we hit the ball back and forth for like ten seconds, and by this point I wanted to shut her up. So I hit the ball a little too hard, and at first I thought it was going to go out, until I heard her yell again. But I guess the ball hit the ground just right and it popped up and hit her right in the nose. Needless to say she took second place with tissues up her nose." Sora told them as they sat around the fire.

"If you can do that with a ball, then I guess these two are lucky you missed them with that rock earlier today." Mimi said as she pointed at the boys.

"Yeah, well, flimsy racket, odd shaped rock, wind, odds were against me." Sora said as she got up. "All right, I'm headed to the pond. I can't take being dirty any longer."

"If you're not back in twenty minutes, we'll assume something happened, so hurry back." Tai told her as she headed down the short path to the pond.

Tai only half listened to the others as they told embarrassing stories of one another, but his mind was else where. In fact, he wasn't even sure if his mind should be where it was at the moment. The fact that Sora was just mere yards from him, soaking in moonlit waters…most likely naked, was a first for Tai. Usually he just dreamed about kissing her soft lips.

Tai glanced at his watch. Sora had been gone for fifteen minutes. Tai got up and excused himself. He headed down the same path Sora did. If nothing had happened to her then they would meet halfway, no big deal. He came around the bend and stopped dead in his tracks. He found that he was at a lost for words. And breath for that matter.

Out of the waters came an awe-inspiring, glistening angel. Her hair was a red waterfall cascading over her shoulders. Her body was perfect in his eyes. From her well toned legs, her slim waist, her small breast, to her gorgeous eyes. She was perfect. Tai stayed in the shadows that the trees provided and waited for her to be fully dressed before he came out. But as she pulled her shirt down she turned and saw him leaning against one of the trees.

"Tai?" she called as she squinted in the dark.

Tai slowly came out of the darkness, and down to the banks of the pond. As he did he never took his eyes off hers. He found his feet were floating on the sand beneath his feet.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"Sora… I... "his words left him as instinct took over and he cupped her face and lowered his lips to hers in a kiss that shook the core of his being. The voices in the distance faded away as he softly kissed her. Her lips were so much softer then he dreamed. So gentle and with the softest hint of a sweet flavor. His eyes were shut as he tasted her lips in a way he had dreamed in a thousand nights made weak now by this one sweet wrongdoing. He kissed her with his whole heart as she kissed back with a gentle compliance.

Sora was the one to elevate the kiss to open mouth and as she did she felt her knees grow weak and lingering water droplets shivered through her skin which turned to gooseflesh. She moaned in the back of her throat as she felt her hands pull him closer to herself. She explored his mouth slowly and yet with no lack of fervor. She savored that kiss as though it were cool water upon the tongue of the thirsty, or the grained sugar taste of a ripe fruit on the lips of the hungry. That was what this kiss was to Sora, nourishment to the starving.

Finally, the two reluctantly broke the union of their lips. Tai allowed his eyes to open slowly afterward, only to find them gazing into the loving orbs of his dreams made real. The two were suddenly broken from the dream by a small, hushed gasp on the part of the digidestined who was looking at them. The realization hit them and they pulled away fast enough to see the faces of their friends. The pang of guilt was fast to come but soon replaced by the horror as they turned to stare into the watery sapphire eyes of Matt.

A/N: Phew! Ok, that went well. I hope you enjoyed. Now just take the time and review and tell me what you think. Next chap coming soon!

...SR...